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It seems like the updated penalty sentence of Hendrick Motorsports has opened up a can of worms in NASCAR. All kinds of people are wondering all kinds of things about what is right and what is wrong. In between all this, Denny Hamlin raised a point: “Why can’t we be transparent?” But then again, Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t see the need for NASCAR to be transparent.

In a recent episode of his podcast show, the Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt reacted to Hamlin’s demands for NASCAR to be transparent like they used to be whenever a team would break a rule with their car.

That was not like every week,” Junior said.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the transparency of NASCAR from the past

After claiming it wasn’t the way Denny Hamlin was putting it to be, Earnhardt Jr. described how back in the day, say at a racetrack like Daytona, if a team showed up with an illegal part on their car, NASCAR would confiscate it and put it in the hauler instead of putting it on display.

“If you wanted to see it, you could walk up in the hauler and it’d be in there, on the counter,” he revealed. “You could go up there and say, ‘I heard you took such-and-such. Where is it? I’d like to see it. They might show it to you, it may be laying there, they might not show it to you.”

Also Read: Ross Chastain’s Response to Christopher Bell’s “Wrecking Ball” Comments Triggers Backlash Among Fans for Denny Hamlin’s Teammate

Earnhardt claimed that there were a few one-off occasions when they did put it out on display in the open for everyone to see.

“But for the most part, it wasn’t NASCAR grandstanding and saying, ‘We got you. Here’s all your stuff. Everybody come and look what they did to their car,'” he added.

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Earnhardt Jr. thinks NASCAR putting up things for display is “silly”

As for if he’s a fan of this idea, of NASCAR making the illegal parts available for everyone to see, Junior said he doesn’t love it. “I think it’s silly,” he said.

“If people want to see the part, have them come up in the hauler and the part can be in the hauler. NASCAR confiscated it. They can set it up there, and if you want to see it, come on by,” he described. “I don’t love it out on a table for display.”

This prompted his co-host Mike Davis to wonder if NASCAR implementing such a thing could boost the confidence of other teams. And as Hamlin suggested, deal with the ambiguity.

But Junior thought that even if NASCAR does decide to make it happen, they’ll have to hire someone to stand there all day. In order to explain and showcase the illegal aspect of that particular piece to everyone who is curious, which could be counterproductive. “It’s doable, but it’s gonna slow down the day,” he argued.

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The Hall of Famer was of the opinion that doing so wouldn’t really solve anything other than just “showing the teams.” 

“If I’mma put my owner’s hat on and I’m going to the racetrack as an Xfinity Series owner, somebody got caught with something, NASCAR took it. I don’t need to see it,” he claimed.

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“I don’t have this urge to take a look at it. I’m not as curious about what they did to those louvers as the general public is or the race fan is.”